UK poultry industry needs retail price rise

UK poultry industry leaders claim that the UK chicken industry will
not survive unless it there is a dramatic retail price
increase.

Most poultry meat businesses are making a loss of more than
6 pence per kilogram, or Â£25,000 (36,800 euro) per flock per year, according to
a new report prepared jointly by the NFU and British Poultry
Council.

With each chicken farmer typically rearing six flocks a year, the sector
needs a rise of 12 pence per kilogram to maintain long-term
viability.

The report was launched by NFU president Peter Kendall at
this week's British Pig and Poultry Fair at Stoneleigh.

Kendall said
that farmers are unable to modernise and invest because product prices are being
squeezed and input costs are soaring.

"If we don't get some form of
commitment throughout the food chain to get better returns for poultry farmers,
we will see very long-term damage to this sector," he said.